Maruti in race for mileage

New Delhi, April 28: Amid intensifying competition from Honda’s Amaze, the country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India has responded by conducting “mileage drive rally” for its entry level sedan Dzire across 31 cities on Sunday.

“Competition is in all segment of the cars that we sell. We welcome all competition. Our cars speak for themselves by their performance. We are celebrating the fifth year of the Dzire and so we thought of conducting such a mileage rally to connect with our customers,” Maruti Suzuki India vice-president (marketing) Manohar Bhat said.

In the last five years since its launch, he said that Dzire has been the largest selling sedan in India and the company intends to maintain the leadership position.

The Dzire has sold a total of 5.5 lakh units of the model so far. Dzire’s dominance, however, is witnessing competition from Honda Cars India’s newly launched Amaze which is coming at a price range of `4.99 lakh to `7.60 lakh (exshowroom, Delhi).

The model is Honda’s first diesel offering in India. While the diesel option is priced between `5.99 and `7.60 lakh, the petrol version is priced in the range of `4.99 lakh to `7.50 lakh.

Honda has been promoting the Amaze claiming it to be the most fuel efficient model in India, with the diesel variant delivering mileage of 25.8 kilometre per litre (kmpl), while the petrol variant delivers 18 kmpl. By contrast, Dzire has a certified fuel efficiency of 19.1 kmpl for the petrol option and 23.4 kmpl for the diesel engine.

In Delhi, 105 people took part and the average mileage in diesel option was 30.9 kilometre per litre, while in petrol it was 26.63 kmpl. — PTI